


Rouge Sheets

by the4077s



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Bisexual Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Bisexual Merlin (Merlin), Canon Era, Everyone Is Gay, Fluff and Angst, How Do I Tag, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Idiots in Love, M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Protective Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 07:08:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29310066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the4077s/pseuds/the4077s
Summary: Merlin is cold, so Arthur finds a way to keep him warm.This is a rather tame fic, mostly just some fluff :)Merthur (obviously)I'm bad at summaries
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 111





	Rouge Sheets

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Merlin fic! So please be nice! :)
> 
> I've been in the fandom since 2014 but never really wrote a fanfic for these two before but after lurking through the many Merthur fics there are on this site I took it upon myself to start. 
> 
> Enjoy! Kudos and feedback are most welcome!

The windows of the castle were encased in frost. It had gotten colder earlier which meant it was going to be a long and hard Winter for Camelot, which certainly was not a good thing and entailed lack of supplies and famine.

Arthur burrowed himself further down beneath his sheets. It was barely daybreak and he'd awoken to the cold. The fireplace in his chambers had gone out during the night, and as a consequence, the Prince's chambers slowly but surely dipped below freezing. 

Where the hell was Merlin? It was his job to make sure the fires kept going. Arthur had explicitly told his servant that he was to check in every two hours to assure that the fireplace was well stoked.

How was Arthur expected to perform his duties with icicles hanging off of his nose?

And Merlin had the audacity to call _him_ a dollophead. 

Well, he was not going to let this slide. First thing he'd order Merlin to do next time he saw him was to muck out the stables, _twice._

Firmly wrapping the sheet around his frostbitten body, Arthur stared at the canopy with a sense of annoyance that burned deep within his stomach. The sun was rising and slowly lighting up the room. That's another thing that pathetic excuse for a servant seemed to forget, to shut his curtains. 

But as an hour passed, Arthur grew worried. It wasn't like Merlin, no matter how inept he could be, to be late today.

It surely was time to get up. Sighing in despair, Arthur pulled the covers off of his bed and strung it around his shoulders as thought it were a kind of cloak. The humiliation it would be to have to walk through the halls, a Prince wearing nothing but bed linen. 

But as Arthur made his way to exit the room, he noticed a bundle on the floor just by his table near the hearth of the fireplace. It was the familiar sight of a brown jacket and jet black hair.

It was Merlin, fast asleep, curled up like a kitten.

Sticking his foot out, Arthur prodded the servant but when he didn't respond, Arthur knelt down beside him. Merlin was shivering and still fast asleep. 

_Well, if he had stoked the fireplace as I told him to do so, he would not be. Instead he had fallen asleep! And he was there the whole time!_

Arthur felt a bout of rage coming on, but calmed himself. There was something quite pitiful about the way Merlin lay there, shaking slightly from the harsh cold air on a frozen stone floor with nothing more than thin layers of clothes on.

Prodding the servant again, Merlin stirred slightly, then his eyes snapped open. 

"Oh, gods. Arthur...Sire!" 

He knew he had done wrong, falling asleep. The slight fear in his eyes said it all. 

"What time is it?" 

"Time for you to get up is what the time is, you lazy hump," Arthur glared, but his expression softened a little. "You're freezing." 

Merlin stood up shakily, and cricked his neck painfully. "I have no idea what happened. I was tending to the fireplace, then I felt a little tired and sat down by it...I guess I must've fallen asleep." 

"I guess you must've," Arthur replied, rolling his eyes. He knew he should by all rights be mad at Merlin for falling asleep on the job, but the way his friend shivered and wrapped his slightly tattered jacket around himself for extra warmth it would most certainly not bring tugged at the young Prince's heart strings. 

"Come here." 

Arthur beckoned Merlin to follow, and without question, the young man did until they reached the bed. 

"Do you want me to make your bed, sire?" Merlin asked. 

"No, I want you to get in it." 

"What?" 

Arthur was amused at the way Merlin's face contorted in disbelief. 

"You're joking, right?" 

"I don't joke, Merlin. You're obviously freezing and if you don't warm yourself up soon you'll get frostbite. Now get in, that's an order." 

Merlin gingerly sat down on the bed almost afraid that he'd break it with his lower class mannerisms. Arthur stifled a laugh as he took the blankets off himself and tucked Merlin in. 

"You're going to sit there while I get the fireplace going again. God knows it's your job, but we all know you're incapable of performing even the most simplest of tasks, so I as usual will have to do it myself." 

Merlin looked like he was on the verge of either laughing or crying. Arthur just didn't know what one. 

Once the fire was going again, Arthur came back and sat the foot of the bed where Merlin sat. 

"Why are you doing this, Arthur?" 

"Doing what, exactly?" 

"Looking after me." 

Arthur scoffed. "I would hardly call this 'looking after,' Merlin. And don't think I'm doing this because I care for you as a friend. The fact of the matter is I have no use of a manservant who has hypothermia." 

Merlin grinned slightly. "Thanks anyways." 

"Oh, and when you've warmed up and changed, I need you to muck out the stables." 

"What? But I did that yesterday!" 

Arthur simply grinned and shrugged. "I guess you're doing it again today." 

Merlin sighed and sat back in the bed a little. Arthur studied him carefully as Merlin played with a loose string on the duvet, refusing to make eye contact.

"Is there anything wrong?" 

Merlin looked up, finally his eyes meeting Arthur's own. "No, sire." 

"Merlin," Arthur drawled. "You can't hide anything from me." 

There it was again. That secretive smirk that Merlin always gave whenever Arthur uttered those words. 

"I think I can," Merlin said back. 

"Well you certainly don't hide calling me a prat or a clotpole," Arthur jested. Merlin was unusually quiet and withdrawn today, and if Arthur couldn't know the reason why, the least he could do was entertain his servant's morale. 

Merlin laughed much to Arthur's delight, but then his face went serious again. 

"I guess I'm just tired of hiding." 

As soon as he spoke those words, Merlin looked as though he'd regretted it.

"You know, hiding from Gaius's endless needs of me to collect herbs." 

Arthur wasn't so sure that was entirely the truth, but he shrugged it off as usual as one of Merlin's strange utterances. 

"If you'd like, I could tell Gaius to lighten your duties. You already have enough here as it is, and obviously you need less responsibility elsewhere to care for me."

Merlin shook his head with a slight smile playing on his lips. 

The colour was returning to Merlin's cheeks which meant he was warming up after a cold night sleeping on the floor, and, Arthur had to admit, Merlin did look rather pretty in his bed, with a blush on his face to match the deep red duvet. Arthur caught himself staring at his servant's lips. They were rouge, warm and inviting, slightly pursed as if tempting fate.

Arthur wondered how it would feel to press against them, to feel Merlin's body against his own. Arthur would shelter him, pin him against the mattress under the blankets and it would be their own little world. 

"It's alright, honest. You don't need to tell Gaius anything. I promise last night won't happen again, although your bed is quite comfortable and I could get used to this..." 

As if to prove his point, Merlin shuffled on the bed quite contentedly and let out a sigh. 

Arthur laughed and shoved his servant playfully.

"Don't get used to it, because the next time something like this happens, you'll be mucking out the stables in your undergarments." 

"You don't mean that," Merlin smirked knowingly. 

And Arthur didn't. 


End file.
